A big 3 month old

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Happy 3 month birthday, Ben! Even though I got your birthday wrong on your birth announcement (thanks to everyone who never mentioned the mistake…I guess the hurricane zapped all my brain cells that were left following pregnancy) I do remember the exact day you were born. I’m sure you will never let me live it down!

We’re having the best time watching you learn new things. This past week you discovered that you had hands attached to your body. The curiosity and intensity on your face as you explore these “things” is so fascinating to watch. I can’t wait until you discover that you have feet, too!

Can you feel the love?

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Sam continues to amaze us at how much he loves (and wants to engage) his little brother. I can’t capture every great moment on film (I like to be in the moment for most of them) but I had to share a few from the past week. What cuties!

Thanksgiving in P-town

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This year, we packed up and headed to Palestine for Thanksgiving. It was a quick trip but a wonderful time. We spent Thanksgiving Day as we always do at the Lindsey’s…watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade on TV, eating lunch at Gigi’s, cheering on the Cowboys in the afternoon, eating leftover ham for dinner and then it’s off to bed with very full bellies.

Of course, the growing number of grandchildren makes for a lot of insanity during and in between all these events. And there were 21 total people at lunch this year (a few noticeably missing…Lou, Dabney & Mike…we really missed you guys!) so that calls for a lot of laughing, jockeying for a place at the “big” kids table, stories about life, fighting over the last bit of mac & cheese, fighting over a “real” chair to sit in, just fighting in general, etc.

Luckily, the weather ended up being great so we spent most of the afternoon hanging out in the backyard watching Sam, Van & Bella (and some very energetic adults) run around Gigi’s backyard.

It’s always great to be with family. Looking forward to seeing you all again in 2 weeks.

Good times with the BOYS!

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We had another great weekend hanging out with the boys. They continue to keep us busy, but their positive dispositions make the days fly by. I wish I could bottle up this time in each of their lives.

A House Divided

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I guess you now know which teams they support. Let's hope they never have to play each other or else it could get ugly! But honestly, who's been teaching Sam all about the Longhorns? Go ahead and speak up now!

What's that lady doing in the men's room?

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Scott has every other Friday off. This past Friday we took Sam’s good friend, Sean, for the morning. It was an exhausting but eventful time.

I wish I would have taken a picture of the three boys in the backseat. It was a tight squeeze with all the car seats. Ben was sandwiched in between Sam & Sean. While I was a little nervous about this at first, the older boys were surprisingly nice to the crying baby in the backseat. Sam and Sean spent most of the car time speaking toddler gibberish and pointing out every construction vehicle that we passed.

We made our way to Pump It Up (an indoor inflatable jumping place). Sean immediately goes in and finds the highest part of one of the inflatables and jumps off. I just knew we were headed to the hospital but he just bounces back up, completely unfazed. After a little bit of crazy jumping by both boys, Sean needs to go to the boys room (he’s potty trained) & Sam tells us he needs to go too. So, Scott, Sam, Sean, Ben and I all head into the boy’s room…what an experience. Sean’s at the urinal…Sam’s on the potty…Ben’s screaming his head off in Scott’s arms…and I’m just laughing. I guess this is what I have to look forward to as a mom of 2 boys. We wash hands and head back to jump some more.

Finally, we leave for Lupe Tortilla to eat some lunch. Upon arrival, the boys run out to the sandbox and grab a dirt digger and a dump truck…necessities on this particular playground. The boys share their regular meal, kid’s quesadilla. Sean eats the quesadilla and Sam the rice & beans…and both eat lots and lots of chips. After lunch they head back to the playground. As both boys go into “I’m tired and about to have a complete breakdown” mode, Betsy (Sean’s mom) arrives. There were a few (actually a lot) tears as both boys head to their separate cars. You would think they hadn’t spent every day that week together (Mon-Wed at school, Thurs at gym, Friday playdate)…and that they wouldn’t see each other again on Monday.

It only takes about 10 minutes when we arrive home for everyone (mom and dad included) to fall asleep. We love our boys but they sure do wear us out!

Fun during bath time

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I love how curious kids are at Sam’s age. Tonight during bath time, Sam accidentally made a water fountain with a cup. He was very proud of his invention.

Praise the Lord

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Sam has chapel at school every Wednesday. Today was a sharing chapel where students were encouraged to bring non-perishable food to donate to a local food pantry for Thanksgiving. It was amazing how high the pile of food was. But the best part was watching Sam and all the other 2-5 year olds singing Jesus Loves Me at the top of their lungs while doing the corresponding hand signs…and putting their hands together while the head of school prayed. It was a touching experience.

Howdy

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We’ve got a future cowboy on our hands. The boys and I go to the Children’s Museum at least once a week. They have a section in the museum that represents Mexico. Sam found these tiny cowboy hats and tried to put them on his head…of course, they didn’t fit. So, we tried one on Ben. As you can tell from his smile, he wants us to buy him one for his own personal use. Howdy Y’all!

First Family Portraits

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http://www.brookeschwabphotography.com/myblog/portraits-1/a-new-brother.html

Last week we had Brooke Schwab over to our house to photograph the boys. It was one of the most stressful moments that I’ve experienced with the boys, but the results are amazing.

The link above is a link to Brooke’s blog about the photo session. She also includes a few of her (and our) favorite photos. What cuties!!!

SLDS Halloween Party

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Here are some pics from Sam’s Halloween Party at St. Luke’s. They are a bit late but I just got them from another mom. The teachers “helped” (they were a little too neat in Scott’s opinion for the kids to actually have painted them) each student paint their shirt the week before so they could wear them to the party. They looked so adorable in their handmade, pumpkin shirts.

Round & Round We Go

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Oh, what a day!

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Ben wanted to spend a lot of quality time with me last night, so I woke up (did I ever really go to sleep?) this morning exhausted, not knowing how I would possibly survive until Scott arrives home from work tonight. Of course, it’s raining which means I will have to somehow get Sam, Ben and all of Sam’s stuff into his school without it getting completely soaked. Sam insists on getting his Thomas the Tank Engine umbrella out. He walks all over the house knocking things off tables while hitting Sadie & Ben in the process. As I come outside to get the boys loaded into the car I remember that I forgot Sam’s snack inside. The door locks automatically behind me, so I place the key in the lock only to have it stick where I can’t move it much less unlock the door. I place the kids in the car telling myself that Sam can share a snack with a classmate. Once we’re on our way Ben starts to scream louder and louder the longer we drive along. As we pull into the parking lot at St. Luke’s the entire car is on edge.

Luckily the rain has stopped so I manage to get everyone inside without getting wet. Ben allows me to get Sam settled into his classroom without even one scream from the hallway where he waits in his carseat. When I come out to retrieve Ben, I notice he’s fallen asleep while I was helping Sam. He continues to sleep the entire way home and then for another 1 ½ hours in his crib. When I wake him up to feed him he’s as happy and smiley as they come. After picking Sam up from school we come back to the house for lunch. No one cries, whines or complains throughout the entire lunch (woo hoo!) and I actually get a lot of feedback from Sam on how his day went. Following lunch we play with trains, read books, sing songs and get ready for nap. All go to bed without hesitation.

What an intense and lively 5 hours we’ve had thus far…I can’t wait to see what the afternoon brings!

Playtime!

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This time of year in Texas is amazing. Blue skies & cooler weather make for lots & lots of outdoor playtime. We spend at least an hour each day at a park enjoying the great weather and considerably more time than that in the backyard. The boys are truly happier when they can have a little outdoor time. Here are a few pics of the boys playing outside (and inside) over the past few days.

(Thing 1 + Thing 2) x 2

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My mom and Aunt Deta went to Florida in September and brought back these hilarious shirts/bibs. I just had to share the group photo!

Growing up so fast!

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Sam and Ben are both at points in their lives where developmentally they are growing in a very noticeable way. It’s amazing, exhausting and thrilling all wrapped up together.

Ben is really starting to give a lot back. He’s got a killer smile (with a dimple in the right cheek just like Sam) and when he’s well fed and well rested he will smile & flirt with you for 30 minutes. He’s also starting to coo. I love this time during infancy.

Last week at the park Ben also rolled from his back to stomach. Of course, he was immediately upset the second he did it because he realized that he would now have to hold his head up. Tummy time is not something he likes. He’s also very aware of things going on around him (very much like Sam was at this age) but he’s much more serious about it. Don’t try to have a staring contest with him because he will win every time! Oh I wish I knew what was going on inside that brain of his!

Sam is turning more and more into a complete jokester. I’m afraid we’ve got the next Conan O’Brien on our hands (minus the red hair). He’s amazingly funny…so much so that we try not to crack up every time he says something. He also picks up on everything we say so we’re having to be more and more careful about conversations and reactions to things.

He also loves to see people he knows in other people. Like every time he sees a picture of Martha Stewart he says it’s his Mimi (Scott’s mom)… And yesterday he saw a lady on the back of the blueberry muffin box and he said it was me. Both of these likenesses were actually pretty flattering (in my opinion) but they aren’t always!

We love Carolina!

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I always wonder how 2 people from rival schools ever make it past the 1st date…especially when their families are graduates of the schools as well. And we’re not talking about some crappy rivalry…we’re talking UNC vs Duke!

Luckily, our good friend Ellie (who graduated from Duke and who’s parents met at Duke and who’s cousins attended Duke…you get the picture) made it past the 1st date without storming off when her new husband Adam mentioned that he graduated from a rival school (he graduated from UNC and loves, loves, loves Carolina). We’ve enjoyed the email exchanges between the 2 during a fierce, heavily battled game. And while they’ve both been good sports about the rivalry thus far, I can’t wait for the day when their 1st born applies to college…oh to be a fly on the wall…

They are 2 truly generous and loving people who treated us to an eventful wedding weekend. We felt so honored to be part of their wedding celebration and wish them all the happiness in the world. And while we knew Ellie first (and actually used to cheer for Duke before Scott attended UNC…what was wrong with us), we have to admit that we’ve become pretty fond of her husband (the UNC connection didn’t hurt).

You guys are so lucky to have found the other. Have a great time on your honeymoon. Make sure to send pics of the beautiful UNC lamp in your apartment! We won’t accept any stories about it getting “broken” while in transit to Chicago.

Happy Halloween!

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While Scott & I attended a wedding in San Antonio, my amazing (and now very tired) parents kept the boys for 2 nights. The first night was Halloween. They took the boys to a small carnival at a park near our house. There were tons of toddler activities, hot dogs and a fire truck that came at the end. After that they trick or treated to a few houses (apparently Sam wasn’t too keen on the whole thing) and then stopped by my aunt & uncle’s house to help them hand out candy. Scott & I were so sad to miss Halloween with the boys but it sounds like they had a memorable evening with my parents.

The rest of the weekend involved keeping the boys entertained & busy during the day (butterfly exhibit, TWO train rides at Hermann Park, football in the backyard with Aunt Deta, an impromptu trip to the zoo and lots & lots of Mexican food) so they would sleep well at night. I tried my best not to call every hour to get an update, but when I did check in I only got positive (and sometimes hilarious) stories. When we arrived home today, I could tell just how tired my parents were. Getting up off and on 2 nights in a row & chasing around a crazy toddler during the day can wear someone out very quickly. So, thank you Mom & Dad for spending a weekend entertaining the boys (and for the adorable pictures from Halloween night). I can tell they had a wonderful time!